Description
Storyville's founding was envisioned as a reform measure, an effort by the city's business elite to curb and contain prostitution- namely, to segregate it. In 1890, the Louisiana legislature passed the Separate Car Act, which, when challenged by New Orleans's Creoles of color, led to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, constitutionally sanctioning the enactment of ""separate but equal"" laws. The concurrent partitioning of both prostitutes and blacks worked only to reinforce Storyville's libidinous license and turned sex across the color line into a more lucrative commodity.
By looking at prostitution through the lens of patriarchy and demonstrating how gendered racial ideologies proved crucial to the remaking of southern society in the aftermath of the Civil War, Landau reveals how Storyville's salacious and eccentric subculture played a significant role in the way New Orleans constructed itself during the New South era.
About the Author
Emily Epstein Landau earned her Ph.D. in history at Yale University and teaches in the Department of History at the University of Maryland at College Park. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two daughters.
Book Information
ISBN 9780807150146
Author Emily Epstein Landau
Format Hardback
Page Count 336
Imprint Louisiana State University Press
Publisher Louisiana State University Press